Justin Riley and Dick Wilson are two of the more publicized names associated with running in Lawrence. In Saturday’s Crosstown Unity Run, they were right where you’d expect among the leaders.

Where was I? Huffing and puffing far behind.

More than 300 people entered the first-ever event, a 10-kilometer run from Free State High to Lawrence High. A fund-raiser for the high school cross country teams, the Unity Run brought out scores of students, teachers and alumni from both schools from all over the state. John Rinkenbaugh, 46, came from Fargo, N.D.

There even were a few politicians on hand U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., was the race’s starter, while Lawrence Mayor Sue Hack was hobnobbing.

I started as the high school prep sports coordinator at the Journal-World in mid-June, so I thought the Unity Run would be a nice way to introduce myself to both teams, and provide some goodwill. Toward whom, I wasn’t sure.

A 10K is short by race standards, but man, six miles? I rarely drive my car that far in one day.

I started fast, but couldn’t keep up with the group in front of me. Or the group that passed me a half mile later. Or the two women steaming past me up a short hill, as if I were standing still.

But it wasn’t until Wilson passed me halfway through the race that I wondered what I doing. Wilson is 70 years old, but I didn’t know that. Coming up over Crestline Drive and Irving Hill, the only thing I passed were Kansas University dorms. When Wilson chugged past, then cruised down the hill toward campus, my ego took a shot.

It wasn’t until later I found out that Wilson was ranked third in the U.S. last year for runners in his age group. But he gets that a lot when he’s running races.

“It’s interesting, especially when you’re running in national championship races,” Wilson says. “I’ll be running and get a look, then they’ll say ‘Good job.’ It’s usually very nice.”

He was a part of KU’s 1953 national champion cross country team that featured Wes Santee. He’s been running competitively for the past 24 years. I can handle getting beat by him mostly because tons of people did.

Race organizer and LHS cross country coach Steve Riley put it best during the awards ceremony: “I’m sorry you guys had to race against him.”

Wilson was the male masters winner, running 44:53, which according to an age-graded system, translates to a 33:14, or faster than the Unity Run winner, former Channel 6 sports director Chris Ronan. (Not that Ronan was slow, covering the course in 33:55.)

Just behind Ronan was 2001 LHS graduate Justin Riley. His time of 34:22 blew me away, and he was at a Tom Petty and Jackson Browne concert until 2:30 Saturday morning. For an 8 a.m. race start, that’s just sick.

“I saw it as an experiment,” Riley said. “I wanted to go because Tom Petty’s awesome, and I’m pulling pretty heavy miles anyway. I thought I’d run it for fun and see what happens.”

His dad, Steve, just shook his head at the notion. So did everyone else. A teen-ager’s energy is an amazing thing.

But it’s frustrating when one refuses to lose that energy. I ran cross country in high school, but I hadn’t run farther than three miles since then. Well, in golf I’ll walk 18 holes, but that’s different. Once I crossed the finish line, I was just happy my knees were still working and my lungs hadn’t collapsed.

OK, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, the race itself couldn’t have gone much better. Saturday morning was cool, not too humid, and the rain stopped while we ran.

More importantly, it raised about $2,500 for each program, which was the ultimate goal anyway.

Still, when I cover a race and see all the high schoolers running around, I may have trouble recognizing most of them. They’ll probably have to turn around and leave me in the dust first.